Door hanger



Feb. 17, 1931.

F. A. BOEDTCHER 1,792,568

DOOR HANGER Filed April 2a, 1928 INVENTOR.

Patented Feb. 17, 1931 when stares P TEN oFFicEf FRANZ A. BOEDTCHER, BERGENFIELD, NEW' JERElEY, ASSIGNOR T OTIS ELEVATOR COMPANY, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, .A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY noon HANGER.

Application filed April as,

This invention is a door hanger and more particularly a hanger for suspending a door for sliding movement longitudinally of the track. The hanger of this invention is i11 tended for use in connection with the doors of elevator cages and shaft openings. 1

Under. the modern practice, manufacturers are making the shaft and cage doors of heavy, solid and rugged nature particularly l0 installations where the cages travel at cage during its rapid descent, and thus min high speeds ina closed shaft. The tendency is to produce relatively tight cages :operating within relatively tight shafts so that in the event'of anaccident which may bring 15 abouta sudden dropping of the cage, the

cage will act after the manner of a piston within the shaft which functions as a cylinder to cushion the cage in its downward descent by the trapping of air beneaththe imizing damage. This air cushioning eifect also mater ally tSS1StS1Il the quick stopping of the cages and is looked upon as important in the operation of fast moving cages. a a

In order that cages may function in th manner described, it is ofconsiderable importance that the doors of a cage be made strong and rigid and this of course necessitates rigid mountings for the doors in order to withstand the wear and tear of normal operation of th'edoors and also to withstand the great external air pressures to which the doors are notinfrequently subjected during the rapid travel of the cage. Unless the doors are properly supported, they will not function efliciently for any appreciable period as the supportingdevices employed are subjected to considerable racking and lateral pressures to which I have referred. This is particularly true when the doors are made of a number of sections which must be openedand closed to admit or discharge passengers.

Moreover, under the present practice, it is not uncommon to pneumatically or mechanically operate the doors to open and close them at high speeds. In this operation, the door is suddenly moved from its closed position to open position and vice versa and the racking strains on the hangers due to the inertia and momentum of heavy doors will 192's. seriainoj 273,545.

very shortly so loosen up hangers as ordinarily employed as to render them not only inei'iicient but actuallydangerous.

With the foregoing considerations in mind,

the object of the present invention is to provide a door hanger whereby a cage or floor door may be suspended to move along a track insuch manner as to practically eliminate racking strains on the hanger and to'nioreover' so construct the hanger that'in the event any part of the hanger becomes broken through imperfections in the metal entering into rtsconstruction, the door will be held to the track in such manner that it'cannot possibly become dislodged andfall down the shaft. 7

Under prior practice; it has been quite common to mount each door or door section upon separate hangers and associate a wheel with eachihanger. With this sort of an arrangement, there is a pronounced canting effect of the door which produces tremendous racking'strains when heavy doors are thus mounted.

from the track. Cantingof the door is precluded by providing the carriage at substantially its center with a wheelor roller which bears against'the under side of thetrack and this wheelor roller holds the car riage down to the track so that the wheels which bear on the top ofv the track cannot raise free from the track. The door is preferably supported at a plurality of points in thelength of the carriage and the carriage is so formed that the track may be supported on various points in its length without interfering with the operation of the carriage for substantially the full length of the track.

The carriage is made adjustable to take up wear and to also compensate for'tracks of sli htly varying dimensions.

Features of the invention, other than those adverted to, will be apparent from the hereinafter detailed description and claims when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

The accompanying drawing illustrates one practical embodiment of the invention, but the construction therein shown is to be understood as illustrative, only, and not as defining the limits of the invention.

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a door hanger embodying the present invention with a portion of an associated door illustrated fragmentarily.

Figure 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1. v

Figure 3 is a section on the line 8-3 of Figure 2. I

Referring to the drawings. 1 designates a door and 2 the track on which the door is to be suspended for edgewise movement. The hanger of this invention by means of which the door is suspended on the track is in the form of a carriage designated generally by the reference character 3. This carriage is shown in the drawings as embodying two longitudinally extending bars 4 and 5. These are positioned in parallel relation and aresecured together by rivets 6 which pass through interposed spacers 7. These spacers are integral with and form part of brackets 8. They depend below the bars 4 and 5 to a point below the lower edge of the track and are there provided with rearwardly extending flanges 9.

Keyhole slots 10 are cut into the flanges and bolts or screw heads are passed through these keyhole slots and the associated bolts or screws 11 secured to the door 1. Bymanipulation of the bolts or screws 11, the door may be leveled and brought into proper adjustment and lock nuts may be associated with these bolts or screws to maintain the door in such adjustment. It will be noted that the brackets 8 are offset as shown at 12, so as to clear the track.

Between the opposite ends of the bars 1 and 5 are mounted rollers 1th and 15. Spindles or axles 16 pass through these rollers or wheels and through the bars to mount the wheels for rotation on the bars. The wheels are preferably of the grooved or channel type and the top of the track is preferably convex as shown, so that the wheels will be guided during their travel on the track.

The brackets 8 are supporting brackets in that they serve to support the weight of the door from the carriage. Positioned between the brackets 8 and extending between the bars a and 5 is a retaining bracket 17 This bracket is shown as embodying the characteristics of a bell crank. One arm 18 of the bell crank is made in the form of a perforated hub of a thickness substantially equal to or slightly less than the distance between the bars a and 5 and a rivet 19 passes through this hub and through the bars to pivotally support the retaining bracket 17. This bell crank bracket is provided at its elbow with a wheel or roller 20 mounted to rotate on a shaft 21 and the free end of said roller is formed with a flange 22 which extends upwardly behind the track. The other arm 23 of the bell crank retaining bracket is provided with a tapped hole 24 and in this tapped hole is fixed an upstanding stud bolt 25.

An adjusting nut 26 is screwed on to the threaded post and is followed by a lock nut 27 and these nuts bear upon and cooperate with a perforated yoke 28 which rests upon the upper edges of the bars 4 and 5. By forming and mounting the retaining bracket in the manner described, it will be apparent that when the carriage is resting upon the track with the wheels 15 and 16 in engagement therewith, the nuts 26 and 27 may be manipulated to .pivotally move the retaining bracket into a position wherein the retaining roller 20 will substantially contact with the lower edge of the track. This is the proper working relation of the parts for it will be noted that when the parts are so positioned and locked in place, the roller 20 will not only preclude lifting of the carriage from the track, either in its entirety or at either end, but the flange 22 of the retaining roller will lie behind the track in such manner as to preclude lateral swinging of the carriage on the track. 1

The roller 20 engages with the under side of the track preferably about midway between'the points of engagement of the wheels 14 and 15 with the top of the track, so that there is,'in effect, a three point triangular engagement of the carriage with the track which will withstand the greatest strains to which the part would everbe subjected.

I wish tocall particular attention also to the fact that'the longitudinal bar 5 is considerably deeper than the bar t as shown in Figures 2 and 3. The purpose of this arrangement is to effectually preclude disen gagement of the carriage from the track. By reference to Figure 2, it will be obvious that even if all of the wheels of the carriage should become dislodged or broken, the weight of the door will cause the depending portion of the bar 5 to firmly hook behind the track, so that the door cannot fall through the shaft or become disengaged from the track.

This is an important practical feature since injury and loss of life may occur if a door should become loosened and fall in the shaft.

When the carriage is constructed in the manner described, it is desirable to mount the track in position by means of brackets such as shown at 29 in the drawings. These brackets are cut away as at 30, so as to allow the carriage to traverse the track without engaging the brackets. The brackets may be positioned anywhere along the track without interfering with the operation of the carriage so that with heavy doors, the track may be properly supported at suitable intervalsalong its length. I thus not only provide an unusually rigid'and rugged carriage construction, but also arrange for properly supporting the track on which the carriage is to operate.

The construction which I have hereinbefore described'is sound in principle. The wheels are positioned at the opposite ends 7 of the carriage so as to give maximum wheel 20 base. Between the axes of the wheel which support the Weight of the door, a retaining roller is positioned so as to effectually preclude tilting or swinging of the carriage in any direction and the door is supported by ,the supporting brackets 8 which are positioned between the axes of'the supporting wheels. Further, any tendency of the door to shift from its predetermined path is offset and counteracted by the various parts of the carriage operating under the best conditions of leverage to withstand the strains and stresses to which they may be subjected.

The structure is simple, economical to manufacture and thoroughly efficient in the cartying out of its intended purposes. It provides means for taking up wear andfor compensating for slight irregularities which are met with in quantity production.

The drawings show the invention in the preferred, practicalform and inasmuch as the rigid carriage may be modified in detail without departing from the invention, I wish it understood that the invention is not limited to details in construction, but is to be understood as fully commensurate with the appended claims. I

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A door hanger embodying a rigid wheeled carriage substantially equal in length to the width of the door to be supported and provided with wheels at its opposite ends adapted to bear on the upper surface of the track, a retaining bracket pivotally secured to the carriage intermediate its ends, a roller carried by said bracket and positioned to underlie the track, means for pivotally adjusting the retaining bracket to maintain the underlying roller in substantial engagement with the under surface of the track, and supporting brackets depending from the carriage and adapted to be secured to a door. 2. A door hanger embodying a. rigid wheeled carriage substantially equal in length to'thewidth of the'door tobe sup-Q ported; and provided with wheels at its: opposite ends adapted to bear on the up,- per, surface of. the track, a, retaining bracket; pivotally secured to the carriage xtrack a rigid frame substantially equal in lengthto-the width of thedoor to be supported and spacing said wheels-apart and forming bearings for the axles of saidiwheels,

brackets rigid with the frame and depending therefrom at one side ofthe track and adapted to be secured to a door, a retaining bracket adjustably secured to the frame,-a roller carried by the retaining bracket and underlying the track, and means engaging said retaining bracket and said-frame for adjusting the retaining bracket to maintain saidv roller substantially in contact with the under side of the track, said frame being formed to extend downwardly over "a por tionof the face of the track opposite to that face thereof over which the supporting brackets extend, whereby disengagement of the hanger from the track is precluded.

4. A door hanger embodying a pair of parallel bars, means for spacing said bars substantially equal in length to the width of the door to be supported apart and rigidly securing them to one another, wheels mounted between the parallel bars at their opposite ends and adapted to ride upon a track, brackets carriedby the spacers for supporting a door, said brackets extending downwardly over one face of the track, one of said bars being sufficiently deep to extend downwardly over the other face of the track, and a retaining element adjustably secured to the bars and having a part underlying the track to en- 1 gage with the under surface of the track and preclude lifting of the wheels ofi of the track.

5. A sheave-type door hanger for suspending a door for sliding movement upon a track stationarily mounted over said door, said means comprising; a single carriage at-' tached to the top of said door at a plurality of points and extending parallel to the plane of said door on both sides of the vertical center-line thereof; two rollers pivotally mounted on said carriage to roll upon the supporting surface of said track, one of said rollers being located between the vertical center-line of said door and one of the vertical edges of said door, the other of said two rollers being located between said Vertical center-line of said door and the other of the vertical edges of the door; and a third roller pivotally mounted on said carriage, said third roller being located between said two rollers and arranged toengage, and roll upon, an under surface of said track.

6. A door hanger for suspending a door for sliding movement upon a track stationarily mounted over said door, said door hanger comprising; three rollers; a carriage extending 1n length substantlally the entire distance along the top of the door to be suspended thereby; means for securing said door to said carriage at a point intermediate the vertical center-line of said door and one vertical edge thereof; means for securing said floor to said carriage at a point intermediate the vertical center-line of said door and the other vertical edge thereof; means mounting two of said rollers upon said carriage, one at each end thereof, so that said two rollers roll upon a supporting surface of said track; and

means mounting the third of said rollers upon said carriage at a point intermediate said two rollers, and also intermediate said two securing means, so that said third roller engages, and rolls upon, an under surface of said track.

In testimony whereof I have signed the foregoing specification.

FRANZ A. BOEDTCHER. 

